1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image and voice editing system, and more particularly, to an image and voice editing system which stores image data and voice data in a file storage medium, such as an optical disk, and reproduces the same as associated with each other.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A need exists for a convenient image and voice editing system which stores an image and a voice in a file storage medium, such as an optical disk, and reproduces them as associated with each other. For example, the Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 269584/1987 discloses a recording and playback apparatus and a method thereof in which a voice signal and an image signal are combined with each other to be successively recorded on an optical disk. In this apparatus, the combinations of the voices and images thus recorded on the optical disk are almost fixed thereon. In playback operation, the user is allowed to select either one of selection branches associated with the combinations to the extent that only a limited degree of freedom is assigned to the combinations. For example, when voices are recorded in English and French, the user selects either of these languages. In this apparatus, however, the images and the voices cannot be recorded for the purpose of allowing them to be reproduced in arbitrary combinations thereof.
To cope with this difficulty, an image filing system has been proposed in the article, Keinosuke Murakami et al., "Development of High-Vision TV-Photo System", Technical Report of the Institute of Television Engineers of Japan, Vol. 12, No. 40, pp. 7-12 (1988). In this system, image and voice signals are recorded in an optical file and are edited thereafter, thereby permitting the recorded signals to be reproduced in arbitrary combinations. This system has a high degree of freedom with respect to editing and is hence suitable for commercial purposes. However, when a search is conducted on the file by means of a playback apparatus, the playback apparatus is so adapted as to locate the pickup device thereof alternately over track positions on the file where image and voice signals to be retrieved are recorded. Consequently, the access time is great with respect to the overall processing time, which leads to a problem of reduction of the data transfer rate in the entire operation.